Engine-starting apparatus



Feb; 20, 1923. A 1,445,949

. M. HlRscH ENGINE STARTING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 5, m19

11' l?" l 2z a if F1274 y ZI' 6" 9' INVENTOR MORRIS HRSCH TTORNEY Patented Feb. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORRIS HIRSCH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO BIJUR MOTOR APPLIANCE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ENGINE-STARTING APPARATUS.

Application led August 5, 1919.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, MORRIS HrnsoH, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented cert-ain new and useful Improvements in Engine- Starting Apparatus, of which the following is a clear and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to engine starters more particularly of the type in which an electric motor transmits the cranking torque through a spring.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide compact apparatus of the above type which shall deliver the requisite cranking torque by the use of a motor of reduced power.

Another object is to provide apparatus of the type mentioned which shall operate with lessened shock even under adverse conditions of operation.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following` claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which 4 are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of my invention, Fig. 1 is a view in longitudinal section of an inboard embodiment, the device being shown out of operative relation, Fig. 2 is a detailed sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of either Fig. 1 or Fig. 4, Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional view taken along the line 3 3 of Fig. 4 and Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of an outboard embodiment o-f a modified form of the invention, the pinion being shown in mesh with the fly-wheel gear.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings there is shown a motor 1 having a smooth extended shaft 2. Encircling the shaft there is a sleeve or shaft 3 threaded as at 4 and connected to be yieldingly driven by shaft 2. This connection comprises a bolt 5 extending transversely through a barrel member 6, and having an inclined surface 7 adapted to be wedged against flat 8 near one end of the shaft ex- Serial No. 315,515.

tension, said bolt being secured by means of a nut 9. Encircling the barrel there is provided a coil torsion spring 10 preferably formed of a ribbon of metal elliptical in cross section, with the successive convolutions slightly spaced from each other. The spring 10 is secured at one end by means of the nut 9 to the bolt 5 and is secured at the other end tothe adjacent end of the sleeve 3 by means of a screw 11. Directly upon the shaft 2 and beyond the sleeve 3 I provide a driving pinion 12 adapted to mesh with the teeth of preferably a fly-wheel gear 13. A nut 14 is threaded upon the sleeve and is rigidly connected to the adjacent end of the pinion by means of a coupling collar 15 attached to the pinion by any desired means as at 25 and to the nut as at 26. A stop shoulder 16 adjacent the motor arrests t-he pinion in its movement toward mesh. The stop may if desired be provided on the sleeve for arresting the nut when the pinion reaches mesh, as in the co-pending application of Harold M. Martin, Serial No. 315,532, filed August 5, 1919. The nut may if desired have an eccentric counter-weight 17 as shown.

In operation, upon starting of the motor the shaft 2 drives the sleeve or shaft 3 through spring 10, and the inertia of the nut 14 with the attached pinion 12 prevents the transmission member from immediately rotating with the sleeve. The transmission consequently moves forwardly into mesh with the fly-wheel, being limited against further movement when in mesh by contact of the face of the pinion with stop 16. As the nut can then no longer move longitudilna-lly of the shaft, the rotation of said shaft is transmitted through the spring 10 to the sleeve, the nut and the pinion to crank the engine. After starting of the engine under its own power, the nut is caused to overrun the threaded sleeve in the well understood manner drawing the pinion out of mesh with the fly-wheel.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modified form of my invention carried out in an outboard embodiment. Corresponding parts bear the same reference characters as in Fig. 1,

primed however, and those elements whichy are duplicated in Fig. 1 are not here again described. A housing 24 secured to the motor supports the free end of shaft 21.

Provision is made for making possible a limited longitudinal movement of the nut 141 with respect to the pinion 121. For this purpose the nut is provided with splines 1S fitting in longitudinal slots 19 in the coupling element 151. Interposed between the pinion and the nut and within the coupling collar 151 I provide compression sprlng means preferably in the form of a plurality of annular dished washers 20 facing in alternately opposite directions one contacting the nut and one contacting the pinion. The coupling collar 151 is rigidly secured to the pinion by any desired means as at 251 and the nut 141 is prevented from slipping out of the coupling collar by the use of a split ring 21 having lugs 22 extending through openings 23 in the coupling collar 151.

The normal operation of the construction of Fig. L1 is obvious from the description of the operation of Fig. 1 above.

In case teeth of pinion 121 should abut against teeth of the fly-wheel in moving toward mesh, the pinion is arrested against further movement. The threaded sleeve or shaft will, however', continue to be rotated Within the nut by torque transmitted from the motor through spring 101, causing said nut to move longitudinally upon the sleeve and along slots 19 thereby compressing springs 20, the sleeve itself moving in a direction to close up the convolutions of the spring 101. l/Vhen springs 20 have been sufficiently compressed to prevent further translation of the nut, the latter will be compelled to rotate with the spring driven threaded sleeve, imparting said rotation through the splines at. 19 to the connecting collar 151 to rotate the pinion. After slight rotation the teeth of the pinion are in proper alignment between teeth of the fly-wheel, whereupon compression springs 2O and torsion spring 101 willv expand to urge the pinion into incipient mesh with the fly-wheel gear. Further movement toward full mesh,

cranking and demeshing are obvious from the above description.

During normal cranking action as is apparent, compression springs 2O may yield somewhat depending upon the stiffness of the engine.

If the driving pinion were mounted upon the threaded sleeve instead of directly upon the extended motor shaft it is apparent that such pinion would be larger in diameter and that consequently a lesser torque multiplication would be possible and, therefore, a larger motor would be necessary for a given cranking torque.

It will thus be. seen that there is herein described apparatus in which the several features of this invention are embodied, and which apparatus in its action attains the various objects of the invention and is well suited to meet the requirements of practical use.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.y

Having thus described my invention, what I claim` as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A starter for engines comprising a motor, a threaded shaft, means for yieldingly driving said shaft from said motor, a nut threaded on said shaft, a toothed driving member coaxial with said nut and beyond the threads of said shaft, a driving connection between said nut and said`toothed member, said shaft serving as a stop for said driving member and a compression spring interposed between said nut and said driving member.

2. A starter for engines comprising a. motor, a shaft adapted to be driven thereby, a member movable along and with said shaft, a pinion controlled by said member, and means responsive to a butting of the pinion, to shift said member in onedirection and said shaft in the opposite direction, and two springs one adapted to be distorted bythe shifting of said member and the other by the movement of said shaft.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 15th day of July, 1919.

MORRIS HIRSCH. 

